A new ecological primary flight display concept

Abstract

In the current generation electronic primary flight displays, all variables are scaled and displayed without regard to the inherent relationship between airplane flight path and speed related variables, and without regard how the controls of thrust and elevator should be used. This leaves the pilot to solely rely on his experience and skills to realize the desired state of aircraft speed and flight path. The goal of the ecological Energy Management Primary Flight Display, is to make constraints and complex relationships between various flight dynamics display variables visible and directly actionable to the pilot. In this context, the energy domain is identified as a means to normalize and visualize the relationships between speed and altitude targets, acceleration, vertical speed and flight path angle and to bring out control guidance cues for the efficient use of elevator and throttle control. The feasibility of such an ecological primary flight display is addressed through an analysis of the scaling dependencies. Following an overview of the design issues and required design decisions, the practicality is addressed through an example implementation and a comparison with existing display formats and design recommendations. Finally, recommendations for research are provided to assess the suitability and effectiveness of such a display in improving pilot control performance and workload.

Defining maximum safe maneuvering authority in 3D space required for autonomous integrated conflict resolution

“…In the EMPFD described in [16], the energybased scaling of the speed and altitude tapes allows pilots to instantaneously assess the amount of altitude that can be gained when trading kinetic for potential energy. If the conflict prevention system does allow for a certain level of pilot involvement, e.g.…”

Flight Energy Management Training: Promoting Safety and Efficiency

“…The problem with SISO strategies is that, without coordinated use of the controls, the change in one variable (e.g., altitude) is always coupled with an unwanted change in the other variable (e.g., airspeed). In addition, under certain conditions, the inherent limitations of a typical SISO automatic control system can lead to unsafe situations such as loss of control in flight (Lambregts, Rademaker, & Theunissen, 2008).…”

“…In contrast, in the energy-based ''multi-input, multi-output'' (TECS/MIMO) control technique, the throttle and elevator are coordinated to decouple altitude and airspeed. For a thorough analysis of these control strategies see Amelink et al (2005) and Lambregts et al (2008). its relative distribution over potential and kinetic energy may be correct. In total energy errors, altitude and speed deviations tend not to be inversely correlated, and thus both variables usually deviate in the same direction (e.g., low-and-slow or high-and-fast).…”

“…Rather, to control altitude and speed effectively, both devices need to be coordinated following energy management rules. According to TECS principles then, the flight controls are really energy controls, where the throttle acts as the total energy controller and the elevator as the energy distribution controller (Lambregts, 1983;Lambregts et al, 2008).…”

Exploring the potential of energy and terrain awareness information in a synthetic vision display for UAV control

“…In Ref. 12, integration of PFPA MAX on the attitude indicator is proposed to provide pilots with the required awareness of energy rate and maximum safe energy exchange capability. Figure 3(a) illustrates the conceptual depiction of PFPA MAX in the FPV domain for a steady symmetric flight condition.…”